LIPA CITY, Batangas?Marvin Dumandan birdied three of the last five holes at the frontside to salvage an even-par 72 and gain a share of the lead with Danny Zarate heading into the final round of the ICTSI Classic at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

Two behind Zarate at the start of the round at the windswept layout made tougher with testy pin placements, Dumandan reeled farther back with a birdie-less 39 at the backside from where he teed off. But the 29-year-old Davaoe?o came through with back-to-back birdies from no. 6 then holed out with another birdie on the 514-yard par-5 ninth for that 33-72 and a 139.

?It was tough on the greens today with pin placements mostly on the edge,? said Dumandan, who opened his bid for a second straight crown and the top P200,000 purse in the ICTSI-Philippine Golf Tour with a 67 Wednesday.

?This will all go down to putting,? said Dumandan, who bested a crack field to win the ICTSI Apo Golf Invitational in Davao, the last of three legs that kicked off the revival of the local circuit late last year.

After a bogey-free 65 made under tough playing condition in the afternoon Wednesday, Zarate found the going tougher in the morning flight yesterday, firing three birdies against the same number of bogeys and making an uncharacteristic three-putt, double-bogey mishap on no. 14 for a 36-38 card.

?Unlike yesterday, my putts just won?t go in this time,? said Zarate, who finished in the top 15 at Valley, Sherwood and Davao legs last year but gained a joint third place finish in the recent The Country Club Invitational won by Artemio Murakami.